Visitors Here

Search

1.9.06

DES MOINES, Iowa-At least the people who took flowers from a historic neighborhood left a thank you note. Jason Jasnos said he found the note in his garden Sunday, a day after he caught two women holding a bunch of posies taken from outside his 1880s-era home, near downtown Des Moines.

The note was on a white piece of paper etched in pink marker with a lone pink-and-yellow flower.

"Thank you for the flowers," it read. "Many others will enjoy them."

The note was signed: "The flower bandit."

"We've heard some stories of bizarre plant thefts," said Stephanie Bruner, vice president of the neighborhood association, who said she has had tulips taken from her yard.

Jasnos said he asked around and found that other neighbors also have had flowers and plants stolen from their yards and porches.

One neighbor had ornamental grasses stolen a few years ago. Another neighbor had plants taken from a hanging basket on her porch. The thief had smoothed out the dirt so it appeared nothing was disturbed.

Now there's a twist in the whole gardener/plant theif dynamic. I've had all kinds of things yanked from my garden this year and didn't once get a thank you note. And people say note writing is a dying art. If you're interested the DesMoines Register also has this story on their website along with pictures of Jason and the note the flower bandit.

Record state watermelon growin in Converse patch
Father, son have hopes of beating world record.
August 26, 2006
By Vickie Welbron
vwelborn@gannet.com

CONVERSE-- Donnie sistrunk Jr. and his 15-year-old son Rusty Sistrunk set out this year to raise a state record watermelon--and they did it in July.

But hidden in a patch behind their rural Converse home was a still-growing monster. It's growing no more.

With family members, Sabine County Agent Paul Morris and two representative of the Lousisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry hovering around him at noon Friday, Rusty cut the vine to the whopper of all Louisiana watermelons. At 252.4 pounds, the melon is a new state record.
(click link above for the rest of the story and pic of the youth with his prize winning melon)

Here's a story for all those people who want to get their kids involved in gardening in one form or another. On message boards I read a lot about how today's youth are just not interested in the hobby and how most clubs are desperate for new blood. Since I don't move in gardening circles I'm not really sure if it really is a problem or something that every generation of gardeners comes across and notices. But here is at least one father and son team that dispells the theory.